After years of engaging neighbors and businesses in the McLoughlin Area of Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge, one common theme emerges: The community wants improvements on the boulevard and the surrounding area.

Whether it is different shopping opportunities, business types, restaurants or housing, there is no shortage of ideas and common interests. Most everyone agrees that we need revitalization on McLoughlin Boulevard. A little background on the history of these efforts may prove …

As a Democrat and Neighborhood Leader who knocks on lots of Democratic doors in my local precincts, I am concerned.

How can someone with no government or volunteer service, with a vague resume, who has lived and worked out of Clackamas County and Oregon for most of the past decade, win the tacit endorsement of other Democrats simply by dint of party label?

County commissioner is a nonpartisan position. I may lean to the left, but I will not support the unseating …

I have been a Paul Savas supporter since I first met him over 20 years ago. At that time, he was an elected official of the Oak Lodge Water District and then the Oak Lodge Sanitary District. I have watched him mature over those 20 years, but one thing has never changed — his common-sense approach to any issue he takes on.

The attention to detail that made Paul successful in his automotive business is evident in his approach to issues that daily …

As a longtime resident and activist who has most recently been involved with the library settlement between the county and Gladstone, I know I speak for many others when I say that if you care about libraries, there is no better candidate for county commissioner than Paul Savas. If it weren’t for his efforts, I have no doubt that the Oak Lodge community would have lost its library instead of beginning the community involvement process to design and build a new one.

In the eight years since Paul Savas joined the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners, many of the core issues facing the region haven’t changed.

But Savas has changed, and he feels more prepared than ever to advocate on behalf of matters like transportation, housing and employment if he’s elected to a third term at Position 2 in May. Continue reading…

All but one candidate running for local elected office attended the Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee’s candidates forum Monday night, April 9. From 5:30-8 p.m. would-be representatives for House District 52, Senate District 26, Clackamas County Clerk and Clackamas County Commissioners No. 2 and No. 5 fielded questions from chamber members and the community at large, introducing themselves — some for the first time — to Sandy.

With 11 candidates present, the forum had a variety of voices, though …

Homelessness is an important issue to Savas as he helps take the homeless count each year. He mentioned the lack of housing, poverty in rural regions, zombie homes, where the uncertainty of ownership leaves them vacant, and affordable housing. He also agreed that land use issues need updates and changes.

“It seemed more like he was listening to our concerns,” CPO member Don Tremble said in a message. “It also seemed as if he was explaining the different things …

Danger of congestion tolling diversion on local streets
Op-Ed by Commissioner Paul Savas
Published in The Clackamas Review
2/16

“There are some elected officials who are advocating that all roads and streets be tolled. This would put residents and commuters in Clackamas and Washington counties at a serious and unfair disadvantage.” – Commissioner Paul Savas

When the Oregon Legislature passed HB2017 last year, the transportation package did not include any construction funding for Interstate 205 to resolve the 5.8-mile-long bottleneck.

The transportation package did however include a mandate to initiate tolling of …

Commissioner Paul Savas said that he’d like to see the tolling plans for I-205 go into funding transportation projects, not just discourage people to use freeways during peak periods.

“People want to see those [tolling] dollars invested into the system itself,” Savas said.

Savas said the county will fight for the dollars for Sunrise Corridor to help make the development of the former city of Damascus. He said the county should oppose any effort to give the land within the …